


Night Terrors

by untiltheyfindtheperfectgirl



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 11:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13589295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/untiltheyfindtheperfectgirl/pseuds/untiltheyfindtheperfectgirl
Summary: Four years later, Eddie still struggles with the events of the Summer of 1989.





	Night Terrors

**Author's Note:**

> random drabble... kinda sucks but bear with me...

“E.T!”

“No, we watched that last time! Return of the Jedi!”

“No way, I’m not watching Star Wars again, Bill! I vote Ghostbusters.”

Eddie sighed, popping in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off while his friends continued to argue, tugging the sleeves of Richie’s oversized sweater over his hands and snuggling down into his sleeping bag.

_“Ferris? Ferris? Tom!”_

“Oh, shit!” Mike laughed, jumping back onto the couch and pulling a bowl of popcorn into his lap. “I love Ferris Bueller!”

“Me too!” Beverly grinned, pulling a blanket over her lap where she was sitting with Ben.

“Great ch-ch-choice, Eddie!”

Eddie bit his lip to hide his grin at the praise.

“I know, I’m a movie connoisseur! Now, would you all shut up?”

The group settled down, relaxing into sleeping bags and the couches around the Denboroughs’ living room, the house otherwise silent as a result of Mr. and Mrs. Denborough’s absence for the weekend.

Eddie sighed as he watched Bill and Stan huddled together eating popcorn and laughing along with the movie. Eddie had chosen the movie because it was one of Richie’s favourites and he hoped it would make him feel better about Richie not joining their sleepover tonight, but it just made him miss his stupid boyfriend more.

Richie had gotten suspended from school earlier in the week for smoking in the boys bathroom and his parents had grounded him for two weeks, knowing that the day suspension from school was more of a reward than a punishment in Richie’s opinion. His parents banning him from the Losers’ sleepovers for two whole weeks had wiped the grin off his face the morning of his suspension when he happily hit the snooze button on his alarm clock only to find his parents looming over him, frowns on their faces as they forced him to get out of bed and do chores all day.

Eddie pulled the hood of the sweater up over his head, snuggling into his pillow with a yawn, unable to enjoy the movie without Richie next to him reciting the entire thing word for word obnoxiously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And now, I’m gonna have to kill this fucking clown!”

“Richie!”

“No!”

“Richie!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Eddie! Eddie, wake up!”

Eddie sprang up into a sitting position, screaming with his eyes squeezed shut.

“Eddie, it’s okay! It’s us,” Bev soothed, reaching out to rest a hand on Eddie’s shoulder.

Eddie had been struggling with night terrors for the last few years since their fight with Pennywise in the sewers. Richie would typically intervene before the nightmares got to the point they had tonight, waking to the sound of Eddie moaning and thrashing in his sleep. Richie would wrap Eddie up and hold him until Eddie quieted down, snuggling into Richie as his breathing returned to normal.

Eddie flinched back, pushing himself away Bev and the rest of the Losers who had gathered around his sleeping bag until his back hit the wall.

“Eddie,” Bev tried again, trying not to take Eddie’s rejection of her offer of comfort personally.

“Chee,” Eddie whimpered, knees pulled to his chest and face hidden in his hands.

“E-e-eddie, it’s okay,” Bill tried, reaching out in a similar way to Beverly, receiving the same reaction from Eddie, who resumed sobbing, pulling his shoulders into himself and turning away from Bill.

“Ch-he-ee,” Eddie hiccoughed through his sobs, body shaking violently.

“Chee? What the fuck is chee?” Stan whined, beginning to panic. He had never seen Eddie this shaken up.

“Chee,” Eddie cried again pathetically, sliding down the wall further.

“Chee… I think he wants Richie,” Ben snapped, looking up at Stan from where he was knelt at the foot of Eddie’s sleeping bag.

Stan ran into the hallway, picking up the phone and dialing Richie’s number.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” Stan muttered, listening to the ringing of the phone and swearing when the Toziers’ answering machine picked up. He slammed the phone down into the cradle before taking a deep breath and calling again. “Fuck, Richie, come on!”

“Hullo?” came the gruff, sleep-filled voice of Wentworth Tozier on Stan’s fourth call.

“Mr. Tozier! It’s Stanley Uris, is Richie there?”

“Stanley? It’s 3am, whatever it is can wait-”

“No, Mr. Tozier! It really can’t wait I need to talk to Richie. Please!” Stan begged, voicing raising with desperation.

“Richie’s grounded right now,” Wentworth sighed. “Good-”

“It’s Eddie,” Stan blurted, cutting Wentworth off. “I don’t know what’s happening but he’s freaking out and I really, really need to talk to Richie!”

Wentworth sighed deeply before telling Stanley to hold on for a second.

“What the fuck, Stan?” Richie groaned into the phone.

“Richie!” Stan nearly shouted. “It’s Eddie. He’s freaking out and no one knows what the fuck is going on!”

“Fuck,” Richie groaned. “Is he awake?”

“Yeah, we woke him up but he won’t respond to any of us or let us touch him. He just keeps crying and shaking-”

“I’ll be right there,” Richie cut Stan off, the sudden dial tone signalling that Richie had hung up on him.

By the time Stan returned to the living room Eddie’s sobs had turned silent but he was still shuddering violently with tears streaming down his face, completely curled into himself against the wall with his eyes squeeze shut tightly.

“Richie’s on his way,” Stan said, staring at Eddie worriedly.

“Hu-hu-hear that Ed? R-r-rich is on his w-w-way,” Bill stuttered, trying to reach out to Eddie again. “He’s c-c-coming. He’ll b-b-be here s-s-soon.”

“Cheeee,” Eddie whined, his voice rough from his screaming.

A loud thumping on the Denboroughs’ front door made everyone jump. Stan ran towards the door, wrenching it open to find a breathless Richie in rumpled pajama pants and a holey old t-shirt and Mr. Tozier cutting the engine of his car and following Richie up the drive way.

“Where is he?” Richie asked, pushing past Stanley and storming into the house.

“Living room,” Stan called but Richie was already headed in that direction.

“Stanley,” Wentworth nodded, coming to stand in the hallway next to Stanley.

“Hi, Mr. Tozier,” Stan muttered, embarrassed for having spoken to the man so forcefully earlier. “I’m sorry for calling so late, sir.”

“Non-sense,” Wentworth waved him off. “Is Eddie okay?”

Stan shrugged, leading Mr. Tozier towards the living room.

Richie collapsed to his knees in front of Eddie as he entered the living room, stomach dropping as he watched Eddie shiver in a ball in the corner of the room.

“S’ghetti Monster,” Richie mumbled, leaning forward to pull Eddie into his arms.

“Chee!” Eddie cried, curling into Richie as his shoulders heaved with his sobs.

“Shh,” Richie whispered, rubbing Eddie’s back soothingly and pressing kisses into his hair. “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”

Eddie continued sobbing and shaking, fingers curling in the front of Richie’s shirt. Stan looked up at Mr. Tozier as he let out a deep sigh, rubbing a hand across his forehead as he watched his son and boyfriend on the floor.

“Chee,” Eddie croaked, voice complete raw. “I-I-I… It w-w-was th-th-there and It g-g-got y-you!” Eddie hiccoughed into Richie’s chest.

“It’s not real,” Richie murmured, bending his neck to press his face into Eddie’s. “It was just a nightmare, bear. I’m here, I’m here.”

The Losers and Mr. Tozier watched the couple wrapped in each other, Richie rocking them back and forth as Eddie’s breathing caused his chest to heave.

“You’re okay, bear,” Richie whispered, mouth pressed to Eddie’s ear. “You’re okay.”

The two continued to rock, ignoring the prying eyes of their friends and Richie’s dad, Richie rubbing Eddie’s back and counting out for Eddie to regulate his breathing.

“Eddie, would you like to stay at our house tonight?” Mr. Tozier asked after a few minutes of silence, his face tight with worry. Stan smiled up at Mr. Tozier. The entire Tozier family had an inexplicable soft spot for Eddie.

Eddie pushed his face into Richie’s chest harder, embarrassed as he realized the entire room was watching them.

“Do ya wanna, bear?” Richie asked, bringing a hand up to rest on Eddie’s neck, massaging it softly. Eddie nodded against Richie’s chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two found themselves wrapped in the blankets piled atop Richie’s bed twenty minutes later, legs tangled as Eddie leaned his head on Richie’s chest listening to his steady heartbeat while Richie trailed his fingers up and down one of Eddie’s arms.

“You really scared me, bear,” Richie sighed, squeezing Eddie and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

“M’sorry,” Eddie mumbled into Richie’s chest embarrassedly.

“S’not your fault,” Richie murmured, continuing his stroking of Eddie’s arm.

“Can’t believe you called me bear in front of everyone,” Eddie whispered, letting out a short, breathy laugh.

“You’re one to talk,” Richie grinned. “I’m pretty sure the whole state of Maine knows about ‘Chee’ by now…”

Eddie groaned but remained silent, stroking Richie’s chest a few times before pushing himself up to rest flat on top of Richie.

“Thank you for coming,” Eddie mumbled against Richie’s chin, eyes closed.

“Of course, S’ghetti Monster,” Richie whispered, pulling Eddie up closer to him so he could press a soft kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. “I’ll always be there when you need me, baby.”


End file.
